RESEARCH SUMMARY

Implementation and impact of the dual language

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP)
in Japanese secondary schools
Summary developed by the IB Research department based on a report
prepared by:
Beverley A Yamamoto, Takahiro Saito, Maki Shibuya, Yukiko Ishikura,
Adam Gyenes, Viktoriya Kim, Kim Mawer and Chika Kitano
Osaka University and Nara University of Education
August 2016

Background

were also informed by data gathered from established

IB World Schools and DP workshops. To better underIn 2011, the Japanese government announced its stand the motivations of stakeholders outside of the
plans to introduce the International Baccalaureate (IB) schools, researchers conducted interviews with officials
Diploma Programme (DP) into 200 Japanese secondary from MEXT, the IB and local boards of education. Lastly,
schools over a five-year period (referred to in this key policy documents were examined.
report as the IB 200 schools project). An important
step supporting this expansion of the DP in Japan was In a second phase of the study, researchers explored
the creation of the dual language (English and Japa- recent Japanese articulations of key student compenese) Diploma Programme in 2013, a joint initiative tencies as well as the IB learner profile and other
of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, student competencies that reflect the concept of
Science and Technology (MEXT) and the International global jinzai, or global human resources, a key idea
Baccalaureate Organization. Initial investigations made articulated by the government and business commuclear that a dual language DP would help facilitate the nity. Based on these sources, the researchers develgrowth of the DP in Article One1 secondary schools oped an instrument to measure and establish baseline
data to inform on-going programme monitoring and
in Japan.
summative evaluation activities. Researchers adminThis study offers a description of the implementation of istered the instrument to DP and non-DP students in
the dual language DP in Japanese secondary schools three schools that had recently become authorized to
in order to identify enabling processes and practices as deliver the dual language DP (n = 1,218). A questionwell as to understand barriers and disablers. Secondly, naire was also administered to DP and non-DP parents
it sets out to create an instrument to measure and (n = 625) regarding desired future academic or profesestablish baseline data to inform on-going programme sional pathways for their child as well as expectations
monitoring and summative evaluation activities.
for their childs learning with regard to developing
certain competencies.
Research design
A multi-method research design was employed to
explore how the dual language DP is being implemented in Japanese schools. Qualitative data gathering took place in five case study schools (three
private schools and two state sector schools), which
were selected because they were in the process of
becoming authorized, in preparation for delivering
the DP. Data was collected in the case study schools
through interviews and observations. The case studies
1

Mainstream schools in Japan, public and private, that are mandated to

offer the Japanese National Curriculum.

Findings

The researchers explored the motivations of the Japanese government, MEXT and key business interests
in supporting the IB 200 schools project. A reading of
documentary sources and interviews with key stakeholders indicated that a strong push to implement the
DP initially came from the business community. Leading
business organizations view the DP curriculum as an
ideal pedagogical tool to develop Japanese youth who
can act as global jinzai (human resources) and support
Japans economic success in the future. Researchers

also found strong support from MEXT, the ministry

tasked with the IB 200 schools project. According to key
officials involved in expanding the DP in Japan, the DP
curriculum fits well with the ministrys long-held goals
of fostering ikiru chikara (a zest for living) and developing in young people high-level critical thinking skills
and learner autonomy, including the ability to identify
and investigate problems, as well as global competencies, such as international-mindedness.

As will be noted below, securing suitable teaching staff

was identified as a major challenge by schools. Respondents acknowledged, however, that the dual language
DP lowered this hurdle by allowing up to four of the
six required subject areas of the DP to be taught and
assessed in Japanese, with other subject areas taught
and assessed in English.

While initially the plan was to deliver the DP in English,

key stakeholders soon realized that to achieve the goal
of 200 schools offering the DP in Japan, the programme
needed to be dual language (English and Japanese).
Creating a dual language DP was a strategic decision to
enhance dissemination of the DP curriculum, pedagogy
and learning outcomes. Indeed, schools that participated in this study noted that the establishment of the
dual language DP was key in their decision to become
a candidate school, as it allowed the programme to
become a more realistic option.

In terms of disablers or challenges, the case study

schools identified a number of areas that they felt were
acting as impediments to DP authorization and implementation. These included financial, structural, organizational, pedagogical and linguistic challenges.

Factors supporting implementation

quently maintaining the status of an IB World School.

These included expenses associated with delivering the
DP, such as paying for internet services,3 complying with
regulations regarding laboratory safety and purchasing
textbooks. Moreover, additional costs for students
included purchasing specific calculators and lab coats
and paying examination fees. Schools explained that
they were reluctant to pass on such costs to students
for a number of reasons, not least the desire to make
the DP available to all who want to participate in the
programme, regardless of family background. The
private schools in particular said they would like to see
more financial support provided by the government,
especially during the candidacy stage.

Implementation challenges

Cost was mentioned as a major consideration for the

privately run candidate schools. It was noted by interviewees in all three private schools that while MEXT
offers financial support for the translation of IB materials
and workshops, schools themselves receive no direct
funding for the programme. The Super Global High
The researchers made at least one visit to each case School (SGH)2 funding was viewed as complementary
study school and used the data drawn from interviews to the IB 200 schools initiative by some schools, but as
to examine the motivations and experiences of the a distraction by others. School heads and DP coordischools, as articulated by school heads and DP coordi- nators noted the generous funding for SGH activities
nators. In particular, researchers sought to understand compared to the lack of direct funding to schools for
any enabling and disabling factors that were impacting dual language DP implementation.
implementation as these schools moved through the Study participants identified considerable costs
DP authorization process.
involved in becoming a candidate school and subse-

The main enabling factors that the researchers identified were: the leadership and vision of key players
in the case study schools and a tradition of creativity
regarding curriculum development that these schools
had already embraced. For the case study schools, introducing the DP was seen as a way of bringing together
and enhancing, in one aligned curriculum, a range of
activities that the schools had previously been doing
to some degree, including international education,
learner-centred education and interactive types of
learning. Furthermore, each school embraced in its
own way the goal of creating internationally-minded
citizens, which aligns well with the IB philosophy.
In terms of school management, neither MEXT nor the
Another enabling factor was networking, which had IB offers support for student recruitment. With this in
been facilitated by MEXT, the IB and the IB Liaison mind, the researchers suggested that it could take some
Committee for the dual language DP (renraku kygi time to build a strong DP cohort in Japan. The typical
kai). The support of pre-existing IB World Schools class size at Japanese high schools is approximately 40
was also highlighted as being important. All five case
study schools explained how crucial networking and 2
the support of authorized IB World Schools was in Super Global High School (SGH) is an internationalization project for high
launched in 2014 to nurture global leaders with problem-solving
relation to the progress they had made to date with schools,
and communication skills.
implementing the DP. However, there was concern, 3
that existing IB World Schools may experience burn- Japanese schools do not use a lot of ICT as a typical part of teaching,
at the upper secondary level. As such, many teachers lack expeout due to the additional burden of supporting candi- including
rience using the internet in class, meaning that enhancing teaching and
date schools.
learning in this area remains an important task.
Research summary: Implementation and impact of the dual language International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP)
in Japanese secondary schools

students, which is the stipulated budget allocation for

teachers from the prefectural government. To support
small DP classes, extra teachers over-and-above the
usual school allocation are required, or teachers who
are willing to teach both the DP and National Curriculum courses, which again creates cost implications
for schools.
A significant structural issue identified by some of
the case study schools is the need to fulfill National
Curriculum requirements. While some DP content can
be counted as equivalent to the National Curriculum,
there remain parts of the latter that schools have to
cover as supplementary curriculum content in addition to the demanding DP content. Depending on the
subjects that students take for the dual language DP,
and at what level (standard level or higher level), the
amount of National Curriculum content that would
remain to be covered could differ substantially for each
student. For example, a student who takes a higher
level mathematics course will have fulfilled much of the
designated mathematics curriculum required for Japanese high school graduation, but a student who takes
a standard level mathematics course would not. Due
to these and other difficulties with aligning the DP and
the National Curriculum, the announcement by MEXT
in 2015 that they would allow greater flexibility in how
content equivalency is determined was welcomed
within the emerging DP community in Japan.
The lack of alignment between DP examination periods
and the Japanese academic year was highlighted as
placing further pressure on teachers and students, as
DP content needs to be covered in time to meet either
a November or a May examination period. With the
Japanese academic year starting in April, Article One
schools are choosing the November exam period, but
this means that student learning is interrupted by two
long summer holidays, one in their first and another in
their second year of DP studies. Schools need the flexibility to enable students to begin work on the DP at
the end of year 10 (the end of their first year of high
school) to enable them to offer the necessary hours for
standard and higher level courses and to complete the
extended essay, TOK and CAS.

Language was identified by schools as a disabler,

despite the introduction of the dual language DP.
Even DP coordinators who felt they could read English
reasonably well complained about the large amount of
IB related literature that needed to be digested. While
MEXT had provided funding for the translation of some
documentation, much of the documentation was not
available in Japanese. Some interviewees also stated
that the documents being targeted for translation were
not necessarily those that would aid schools the most.
Participants expressed a strong desire to have all of the
instructional documents necessary to comply with IB
requirements during the authorization process available in Japanese. Additionally, schools explained there
was a need for guidelines in Japanese on how to align
the DP curriculum with the National Curriculum.
The school visits and interviews with stakeholders
allowed the researchers to gain richer insights into the
complexities of the implementation process. Taken as
a whole, the case study school interviews highlighted
the need for practical help in addition to general advice
from MEXT and the IB. In addition, greater flexibility was
regarded by schools as desirable on the part of both
MEXT and the IB.

Establishing baseline data

In order to measure the impact of the dual language
DP, a baseline is needed to understand the skills,
competencies, expectations and attributes nurtured
by the courses of study at the upper secondary level
in Japanese schools. At the same time, it is necessary
to establish whether and to what extent the students
who choose to take the dual language DP are achieving these competencies as compared to their peers
who take the National Curriculum at the upper
secondary level.
The Osaka University and Nara University of Education
researchers developed an instrument to measure and
establish baseline data, which was administered to DP
and non-DP students. The results showed that there
were some statistically significant differences between
the IB and non-IB cohorts at the point of entry in terms
of aspirations, expectations and interests. There were
also some notable differences between IB and non-IB
parents. Key areas of difference are as follows:

Lack of experience with IB-style pedagogy was also

raised by case study schools as posing a challenge for
teachers and learners in schools implementing the dual 1. Post-secondary plans25% of the DP students
language DP. While the case study schools had been
were considering attending overseas universities, as
developing investigative and project-based learning to
compared to less than 2% of the non-IB sample.
some degree, interviewees reported that many aspects
of the DP pedagogy are unfamiliar for teachers. Exam- 2. Future working environmentsIn comparison with non-IB students, IB students were more
ples include, the use of ICT in teaching, criteria-based
inclined towards working in an international
grading and narrative feedback. To support these and
environment and an environment where they
other areas of the DP, the researchers indicated that
are able to take on a leadership role.
significant training and support would be beneficial.
Research summary: Implementation and impact of the dual language International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP)
in Japanese secondary schools

3. Programme expectationsWhen asked what

are your expectations of what your high school
life will teach you, IB students had higher expectations than their non-IB counterparts regarding
becoming more internationally-minded, gaining
all-round proficiency in English, acquiring the
ability to solve problems, acquiring leadership
skills and acquiring the ability to take the initiative
and act on things myself.
4. Student competenciesWhen asked to provide
self-assessments on a range of competencies, IB
students gave higher self-ratings for being: internationally-minded, able to use English effectively
and able to make use of information and communication technology effectively. Self-rated skills and
knowledge in mathematics and science were more
or less equal for both groups.
5. 21st century skillsUsing the Kusumi-Hirayama
scale revealed, in both an absolute and comparative sense, that IB students rated learning about
many different cultures and learning by working
with others who have a variety of ideas more highly
than non-IB students.
6. Global competenciesIn other parts of the
student questionnaire, major differences in selfreports between IB and non-IB students centred
around global competencies, such as openmindedness and critical thinking, with these rated
more highly by IB students.
7. Differences between parent groupsIB parents
had higher expectations than non-IB parents that
the DP experience would contribute to their childs
development of international-mindedness and
proficiency in English. IB parents were also more
likely than non-IB parents to want their children to
work in an international environment in the future.

This research suggests that some important steps have

been made in flexibly counting aspects of DP curricula
as equivalent to required components of the National
Curriculum. Nevertheless, the situation needs to be
monitored to ensure that the workload for students and
teachers is not excessive. In addition, allowing students
to register for the DP towards the end of year 10 to give
schools time to offer the curriculum for a November
exam schedule would ease the pressure on students
and schools considerably.
The DP places emphasis on breadth and depth of
learning as well as cognitive and non-cognitive learning
and growth. This is an attractive feature of the DP for
the Japanese government and the business community. Too much emphasis on final examination scores,
however, may mean that schools and students are
forced to cut corners with the DP core components in
order to secure high scores in subject areas. With this
in mind, the study researchers concluded that it was
incumbent on MEXT and the IB to ensure that the timetable and demands of the DP and the National Curriculum allow students room to grow as global citizens.

Conclusions and recommendations

When considering the challenges that the five candidate schools have encountered, it is clear that for the
goals of the IB 200 schools project to be met, more
support will be required. Funding and alignment
issues loom particularly large. Schools do not want to
pass the costs of the DP on to individual students and
their families; hence, there is a need to provide schools
with more support. The launching of the SGH project,
which provided generous funding for curriculum innovation, left some school stakeholders wondering why
this was not at least matched for the IB 200 schools
project. Participants explained that DP implementation
requires sweeping changes to the school environment,
teaching styles and the management of assessment
and examinations. In addition, the DP is a long-term
project that must be sustainable across many years.

This summary was developed by the IB Research

department. A copy of the full report is available
at www.ibo.org/en/research/. For more information on this study or other IB research, please email
research@ibo.org.
To cite the full report, please use the following:
Yamamoto, BA, Saito, T, Shibuya, M, Ishikura, Y, Gyenes,
A, Kim, V, Mawer, K and Kitano, C. 2016. Implementation and impact of the dual language International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) in Japanese
secondary schools. Bethesda, MD, USA. International
Baccalaureate Organization.
International Baccalaureate Organization 2016
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Research summary: Implementation and impact of the dual language International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP)
in Japanese secondary schools